Endometriosis is a commonly encountered gynecological disease requiring medical and/or surgical therapy and is associated with considerable morbidity in women of reproductive age in developed countries (Murphy, A. A., 2002; Barbieri, R. L. & Missmer, S., 2002). Endometriosis occurs in the pelvis, most commonly in the ovaries and areas covered with peritoneum. The most frequent symptoms of genital tract endometriosis are dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility. Several symptoms and pathologies are seen in endometriosis patients: women with extensive endometriosis may have little or no pain, while women with minimal endometriosis may have disabling pelvic pain. It is not clear if endometriosis is causally linked to infertility, but many abnormalities in peritoneal, tubal, and endometrial function are thought to inhibit fertility. Despite the fact that many women suffer from this condition, little is known about its cause or consequences.
Retrograde menstruation through the Fallopian tubes into the pelvic cavity during the menstrual cycle is a major contributor to the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Additional factors such as weak natural killer cell activity, autoimmunity, environmental risk factors, and genetic risk factors contribute to the development and progression of this disease (Cramer, D. W. & Missmer, S. A., 2002). However, it is not clear whether any of these factors is primarily responsible for endometriosis. Although endometriosis invades in a manner similar to cancer cells (Thomas, E. J. & Campbell, I. G., 2000), histologies of endometriosis show that endometriosis lesions are composed of fairly normal endometrial cells. Thus it appears that endometriosis represents an ectopic transplantation of normal endometrium. Nonetheless, biochemical analysis suggests a difference in protein expression patterns between endometriosis and normal endometrium (Arici, A., et al., 2003; Vigano, P., et al., 1998). Provided herein are compositions and methods for specifically targeting endometriosis cells.